First original design STR hits the track in Valencia

Today was an important one in the history of Scuderia Toro Rosso as its first car designed entirely in-house, the STR5, made its track debut on the first day of pre-season testing. With Sebastien Buemi at the wheel, the car (chassis number STR5-02) completed 10 laps before being sidelined with a gearbox control problem, which took some time to fix, before going back out on track for the final half hour. In total, he completed 18 laps, with a best time of 1.14.762.

Giorgio Ascanelli: “This morning we had a problem with one of the gearbox actuators, which we managed to improve, but not fix completely. It is too early to make any comment on the actual performance characteristics of the new car. In the short term, we will be trying to fix the actuator problem overnight, in the hope of having a better day tomorrow.”

Sebastien Buemi: “It’s good to start testing at last. This morning, we had a problem, which took a long time to analyse. We managed to get out again towards the end of the day, even though the fault was not completely fixed. At least we managed some running, which allowed us to work through the usual new car procedures, such as checking seat position, visibility from the cockpit, the systems and so on. But it is a bit too early to get an impression of what the car is like, especially those elements affected by the rule changes.”

Jaime Alguersuari: “It felt good to be back at a race track and hear the sound of F1 cars again, and I can’t wait until Wednesday, when I get my first turn behind the wheel.”